Gun Dealer To Pay Town, End Sales

December 02, 1999

A Gary, Ind., gun dealer agreed Thursday to stop selling handguns and pay this violence-plagued city $10,000 to get itself dropped from Gary's lawsuit accusing the gun industry of putting weapons into criminals' hands. The settlement is believed to be the first in which a defendant in one of a series of lawsuits brought against the gun industry around the country has agreed to pay money. Mayor Scott King said Fetla's Trading Co. of Valparaiso, Ind., will stop selling handguns once its current inventory is depleted. Fetla's was among 21 gun manufacturers and distributors, five local dealers and three trade associations the city sued in August. Three times this decade Gary has been the nation's murder capital. Gary joined New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Newark, N.J., in suing the industry.